Follow Your Gut Instincts

The last few weeks something has been really bothering me about my reactions to things; so I did what I would do with my coaching clients. I unpacked what was happening. I had been having a pretty negative reaction to some suggestions that were being made for my business. As a result, I was getting stuck in those conversations and not sticking with what I knew I needed to do. I let them become loud, distracting noise. I spent countless hours forming my arguments against something that my gut was telling me wasn’t right in the first place. Why? Because the suggestions were coming from people that potentially knew more about the subject than I did. The suggestions also crossed into areas of running a business that I have always struggled to master because of the nature of my personality - sales - or at least the definition of sales that I had applied to it.

I joined the workforce when I was twelve years old as part of my family’s business. In the last 38 years, I have had some great jobs and I have had some pretty awful ones. However, one thing has always been my North Star - my gut. Even when I pushed nagging feelings down over and over again, my gut feelings were rarely wrong. They may have seemed misplaced or misguided at the time, but if I had listened to them more quickly, I could have spared myself a bit of drama down the road. So why, then, have I not learned to immediately listen to my gut?

Rational behavior comes from thinking, analyzing, and justifying - or does it?

The reason is that, especially in Western culture, we as leaders are taught to be rational; and that rational behaviour comes from thinking, analysing, justifying, and backing up every decision with evidence to support it. So, then, where is there room for gut feelings? If you use that teaching, there isn’t. Gut feelings are frowned upon. I have even told myself over and over again that I was rushing to judgment or making a decision too quickly, because my gut was telling me it was the right or wrong thing to do.

The last few weeks have been no different. Like many of us, I am examining my business and deciding if I need to change how I had planned to operate for the rest of the year. I pride myself on involving people in my professional life that bring skills and thoughts to the table that I wouldn’t ordinarily have. However, at the end of the day, I have to do what my gut tells me is the right thing to do. I have to be the best version of myself; not a fabricated version of me.

Furthermore, when I feel pushed into a decision or a path, I never do my best work. This is probably true for most of us. If I don’t feel like writing, I can’t push it. If I don’t think a call is the right one to make, I will keep putting it off. And there is science behind gut feelings. They are not reactionary in the sense that many associate with it - just an emotional response with no basis in fact or rationale. In fact, while they’re often subconscious, they are based in quite a bit of rational response. Gut feelings are fine tuned from years of experience and come with quite a bit of cognitive processing.

So, as we navigate these troubling times that come with daily uncertainty, remember to trust your gut. This doesn’t mean don’t challenge yourself or don’t pivot in different ways. It doesn’t mean that you stay stuck in one place out of fear of trying something new. It does mean, however, that when making a decision, if your gut is telling you something is off, then stop and process. Here’s how:

• Take a minute and breathe through the feeling.

• Unpack why you had that reaction.

• Take time to process.

• Step away and come back to it.

• Research and explore.

And then if your gut is still telling you to hold, then listen.

Intuitive thinking

Just google “gut instinct” and you will find many reputable sources such as Psychology Today and Live Science, discussing the science behind intuition. Even mainstream media such as BBC and Business Insider have devoted air and print time to the topic. Intuitive thinking is described as automatic, fast, and subconscious. It is what makes us pause and think “Hmmmm. I don’t know where that just came from.”

When we look at the flip side with analytical thinking, we use words like slow, logical, conscious, and deliberate. Often, we think that these two types of thinking are polar opposites. In fact, they need to work together. We need to respect each of them equally. Intuition is often the precursor to great thought and discovery. It is how ideas are born and experiments formed. And then those ideas are formed into more concrete concepts through analysis and research.

We are all starting our journeys in different places

As we work with teams as leaders or coaches, it is important to remember that we are all starting our journeys at different places. Sometimes there is a meeting in the middle and sometimes those journeys continue to diverge. We all have our own cliff to which we can walk and look over; and we all have our fears to conquer to decide if we want to cross that cliff and see what is on the other side.

Use your intuition or follow your gut instinct along the path of growth and exploration. I cleared away all of the suggestions that my gut was telling me were not right for me, and in so doing I opened my mind to suggestions that did align with my core being. I am now on a path that feels comfortable for me. More importantly, it feels doable.

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About the Author:

INDRA A. BOOKS

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